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Lot Essay
In the early summer of 1877 Sisley moved to Sèvres, a suburb of Paris famous for its porcelain factory. He resided there for the next two and a half years. As well the town itself and its quays, the romantic bridge over the Seine became the subject of numerous canvases.
The present work is one of six rapidly painted compositions completed during this year. The paintings are characterized by a fresh, breezy atmosphere coupled with the portrayal of diverse riverside activities. Sisley had a fine lyrical sense and his talent for being able to capture the modest charm and the gentle beauty of nature is no better expressed than in this canvas. A smaller comparable work (Daulte 262) is housed in the National Gallery of Art, Prague. While similar in compositional scheme to the present lot, Sisley's execution of the painting in Prague is more sketchy and loose. In the present work, all of the motifs, including the bridge, the two figures and the surrounding river landscape, are more sharply defined and form a more technically superior composition. In particular, the predominance of the sky and the reflections in the river evidence Sisley's interest in the effects of changing atmospheric conditions on this particular landscape. His quick application of staccato-like brushstrokes imitates the shimmering effect of the sunlight reflecting on the water, with trees and the town of Sèvres seen in the distance.
As Christopher Lloyd commented on the artist's paintings from this period:
The group of paintings by Sisley dating from the 1870s are subject to the strictest pictorial organization. It is this compositional aspect, in addititon to their facture that makes these paintings, in comparison with landscapes by artists of the Barbizon school, specifically modern. Sisley incorporates an almost relentless array of horizontals, verticals and diagonals deployed as plunging perspectives and flat bands of planar divisions. Yet, Sisley, more so in many cases than even Pissarro and Monet, was more radical than any of his sources, since he seeks to bring order to a world in an ever incresing state of flux. The depiction of modernity was best served by a resolute style derived from astute visual analysis and confident technique (C. Lloyd, "Alfred Sisley and the Purity of Vision", Alfred Sisley, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1992).
The present work is one of six rapidly painted compositions completed during this year. The paintings are characterized by a fresh, breezy atmosphere coupled with the portrayal of diverse riverside activities. Sisley had a fine lyrical sense and his talent for being able to capture the modest charm and the gentle beauty of nature is no better expressed than in this canvas. A smaller comparable work (Daulte 262) is housed in the National Gallery of Art, Prague. While similar in compositional scheme to the present lot, Sisley's execution of the painting in Prague is more sketchy and loose. In the present work, all of the motifs, including the bridge, the two figures and the surrounding river landscape, are more sharply defined and form a more technically superior composition. In particular, the predominance of the sky and the reflections in the river evidence Sisley's interest in the effects of changing atmospheric conditions on this particular landscape. His quick application of staccato-like brushstrokes imitates the shimmering effect of the sunlight reflecting on the water, with trees and the town of Sèvres seen in the distance.
As Christopher Lloyd commented on the artist's paintings from this period:
The group of paintings by Sisley dating from the 1870s are subject to the strictest pictorial organization. It is this compositional aspect, in addititon to their facture that makes these paintings, in comparison with landscapes by artists of the Barbizon school, specifically modern. Sisley incorporates an almost relentless array of horizontals, verticals and diagonals deployed as plunging perspectives and flat bands of planar divisions. Yet, Sisley, more so in many cases than even Pissarro and Monet, was more radical than any of his sources, since he seeks to bring order to a world in an ever incresing state of flux. The depiction of modernity was best served by a resolute style derived from astute visual analysis and confident technique (C. Lloyd, "Alfred Sisley and the Purity of Vision", Alfred Sisley, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1992).